Halls of my Home
by IY Geek Gal
Summary: Legends haunt her as she goes  O'er oceans and o'er the seas  With but three by her side  Whilst at her back are pitiful pleas    A new danger lurks in the dark  Biding its time to strike down  Katie's grandchild who has dared  To come and try to take its
1. Crazy Grandma

**Halls of my Home**

**Chapter 1: Crazy Grandma**

You see, I have this crazy grandmother. Or, that's what everyone seems to believe anyway. They tell me she must have overdosed on some sort of medication or drugs when she was younger because she _insists_ that this book she wrote when she was young was actually _true_. My grandmother is completely positive that all of the characters and places she wrote about in her novel Echoes of Valor…[We are the Final cry of Man] exist in another dimension which she entered through this portal in some locker in her middle school.

Sounds crazy right?

Because of this fact, once my grandfather, Grampy Jake, passed away, Grandma insisted that she go to a retirement home. She didn't want to live in the area where she had been reunited with the man of her dreams, the _prince _of the realm of River Belle Path which was the kingdom in her book. She insists he came out of its pages to be with her in the apartment the two of them shared together. So, my mom and dad, despite having been estranged from my grandma for obvious reasons, placed her in a secure assisted living environment for her.

However, my parents rarely visit Grandma Katie and it made her sad. I remember being little and going to school and hearing stories from my friends about how they visited their grandparents and had gotten handknit sweaters or cookies from them, and getting sad. I never was allowed to see my grandparents until after Grampy Jake died and Grandma called asking to be placed in the retirement home.

Up until that point, all that I really knew about the pair of them was that my grandma was actually quite the popular author back in the day. She'd only written one book, but it stayed in print for many decades after its original publishing. It was a fantasy novel that she claimed documented the adventures she had had in another world, and it was utterly amazing. After having gone to the local bookstore and picking up a copy I read it and just fell in love. Being a well-read person myself, I adored the writing style and heartfelt emotion my grandmother had put behind every word. I wanted to meet her, despite my parents never having had much to do with her in the past.

Once news reached them of Grampy Jake's death, the three of us went to help Grandma Katie move into her new home in the assisted living community. The staff there seemed friendly enough, and treated my grandmother with well enough respect. Although it seemed as if they all thought she was a kook too. Going a bit senile in her older years and trying to convince others that your popular _fantasy _novel was actually a _biography _of sorts was bound to get that sort of effect I suppose.

But. The move was done and over with. My grandmother was settling into her single room lined with creamy walls and polished white opal furniture along the walls when I noticed her pull out a rather large piece of parchment wrapped in plastic from a box. Intrigued by the weird tingling sensation I was getting in my fingers, I asked my parents if I couldn't stay a bit longer with my grandmother. Since I hadn't seen her in so long, I wanted a bit of bonding time. Also, at 89, I wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be with us. My parents shrugged it off, insisted that I not believe any of the crazy stories I was bound to hear, then left me with her.

"Grandmother?" I asked softly, padding across the soft plush carpet in only my socks. The staff insisted that we not wear our shoes when inside any of the little houses. My grandmother turned towards me and held the paper close to her chest as if she thought I might take it from her. It made me think how much criticism she had suffered at the hands of cruel people intent on just hurting a poor, ailing elderly woman. I let a small smile spread on my face.

"What is it Aaliyah?" Grandmother asked.

"Is that the picture that was mentioned in your book? The one of the Caravan Tsiknus?"

She seemed a bit stunned by this question. I knew that I was one of very few of her family members who had read her book and not mentioned some slightly snide comment about it or her sanity. I knew what the picture was and wasn't teasing her for it.

"So what if it is? Are you going to tell me as well that I am nothing but a crazy old bat too?" She snapped, made irritable by years of torment at the hands of others. I felt stung by her comment. That she would so readily make that assumption of me hurt. I looked up to her so much! I _loved _her book, not _hated _it.

"I…don't think you're crazy Grandmother," I mumbled under my breath. "I actually adore your story. It's lovely. I only want to see the painting I've only read about in person if you don't mind?"

Grandmother stiffened and stared me up and down as if trying to assess that I was telling the truth. She gazed from the top of my dyed-black, waist-length, shiny hair, looked across my average-sized chest and curveless hips to my long, thin legs in their little white socks. When her eyes roved back up my body, they eyed the silver and red ring I always wore on my left index finger and looked hard into my tanned-from-volleyball-practice-on-the-beach face. I felt a bit uncomfortable, but kept my chocolate brown eyes which now seemed to look a lot like hers straight ahead. I even had the same little bump on the bridge of my nose as hers. It was the constant source of my insecurity. As if being alarmingly tall for a girl at 5'11" wasn't enough, I was rail thin and yet slimly muscled from my years of volleyball playing on the beach with my friends. I curled my mouth into a little smirk as I saw the little mole on my grandmother's right cheek. I had one in the exact same place. I raised a finger up to rub the spot and at the same time my grandmother did the same. I couldn't help it.

I started to laugh.

At first, my grandmother seemed alarmed that I would laugh for no apparent reason, but if her book was any indication, she had laughed at even the most bizarre and horrific times and places. After I wiped a mascara-lined tear from my cheek, Grandma Katie held out the paper for me to look at.

What I saw that day was enough to spark a cherished friendship that would change my life forever.

For one reason or other, when I had unrolled my grandmother's picture that day, I had gotten an intense electric shock from it. It didn't physically move me in any way, but when I gazed down at all the faces of the characters depicted in my grandmother's story, a strange sensation sprouted in my fingers while they held the picture. It felt as if something were leaking off the paper and into my body. Perhaps a sense of belief. I understood that at that moment if my grandmother were to tell me her story _was _actually true, that I would more than likely believe her. It felt as if my heart and mind were suddenly capable of holding all the information in. When my eyes roved the faces of my grandmother as she stood amongst the prince, my _grandfather_, the bandit leader Geoffrey, and her childhood friends I had heard had gone missing when she was young, they started to cry.

My grandmother seemed alarmed. She bustled over to me and took the picture from my hands. I reached out at first, slightly irritated that she would take something away from me that was so important for some reason. But then my arms dropped to my sides and I stood there, staring at my grandmother who probably thought that _I _was the crazy one now.

"I believe you!" I had cried.

* * *

**RAC: **Yay! Aren't a cool! 5 years after having started the original Echoes of Valor story, I have decided to start work on the _sequel!_ Yes, just as was foreshadowed atleast a year ago now in the original, I've decided why not try working on a sequel. This probably is going to take me even longer than the original to write ((which was 3 and 1/2 years I believe)) but why not. I guarantee no regular updates, but I'll keep you posted as often as I may. But, to keep ya posted on what's going on with _me_, let's just say I have plans to attend Indiana University in the fall! Yupp, going for my major in Physical Therapy I am. Also, I dumped Nich ((as I think I might've said in the old story, not too sure)) but I've been dating my new boyfriend Brett as of 17 months today ^_^. And I plan on going to Ohayocon in 2 weeks. Ok, see you all later!


	2. Belief

All too soon, my parents had come to retrieve me from my grandmother's side. I was very reluctant to go once I felt that strange sensation from the painting. I felt as if I never wanted to leave Grandma Katie's side. After my exclamation however, she had quickly stored the painting in its box and insisted that I leave. She had put her hands on my back and bustled me from the room without too much of an explanation. That's when my parents had come back, and after having seen my grandmother "forcefully" removing me from her room, decided to leave themselves.

The car ride home was one of dueling emotions. While my parents talked in the front seat about how my disillusioned grandma's sanity was slipping further and further from her grasp, swift visions flooded my mind.

There was one of a black-stone palace in a courtyard full of shrubs and flowers blowing in the breeze. Another of walking into a dark forest and being accosted by bandits with a blonde-haired and blue-eyed girl. A third was one of a beautiful wedding procession of two people with…_animal _legs!

I woke with a start and a little cry of alarm. The car was just pulling into our driveway and my parents turned and looked at me in alarm.

"Are you all right?" My mother asked me.

"Your grandmother didn't…_do_ anything to you did she? She didn't give you any pills or anything?" My dad asked.

"No! Of course not!" I cried, alarmed that they would make such an assumption about my grandma. Although, to them, I suppose she was the estranged senile old woman they liked to pretend didn't exist most of the time.

"Can I go back and visit her?" I asked my parents as we climbed out of the car.

There was a moment of silence as I followed the pair of them up the stone steps that wound their way through our front yard towards the porch and my mom searched for the house key on her key ring.

Once the front door was open, my mom spoke in a careful tone of voice, as if not wanting to hurt my feelings, but wanting to prove a point nonetheless.

"If you want to Aaliyah, I don't suppose we can't stop you. You've got your license and your own car. But I don't want you to go believing any of that woman's crazy stories. She's going a bit loopy in her old age and I don't need another family member buying into all that nonsense of fairytales and make-believe magic." And with that, she disappeared into the kitchen through the small entryway hall. I could hear the scraping of chair legs on the wooden floor and a _thump _as her body collapsed into it. My father shuffled after her.

A strange feeling of excitement bubbled in my chest. Knowing that I wasn't going to be barred from visiting my grandmother was great news! I turned sharply to my right and took the stairs two at a time before emerging onto a landing that branched off in two separate directions. My room and a spare were on the far left end and my parents' room was to the right. I kicked open my door and collapsed onto my light blue duvet still rumpled from my excited scramble this morning.

The sun was wavering in the sky when I pushed aside the blinds on the window beside my bed to look out. Our house was a nice two-storied one in a decent neighborhood. We had nice enough things and were well off with money. We were close to the beach too, which I of course loved, being something of a beach bunny. However, one thing I didn't enjoy all that much was the way that all the houses in this neighborhood looked the same. I couldn't stand the conformity of all the buildings in this area. It drove me insane. I gazed around at all the identical gray-shingled, two-story houses I could see from my window and waited for the sun to go down. I was asleep before the sun set completely.

* * *

_A child walks paths long lost  
__One path which leads to a fallen kingdom  
__She alone must help them all  
__Those who live are but seldom_

_Legends haunt her as she goes  
__O'er oceans and o'er the seas  
__Where one before her had yet to go  
__Whilst at her back at pitiful pleas_

_A new danger lurks in the dark  
__Biding its time to strike down  
__Katie's grandchild who has dared  
__To come to try and take its crown_

My dreams were a crazy whirlwind of nonsense. I was buffeted by all sorts of emotions like an uncontrollable fear of dark tunnels beneath cities of short people with peaches on their head, total head-over-heels love as I got my first kiss from a boy with long black hair, and joy at seeing long-lost friends I had never actually met myself.

All these things banged around inside my mind while I dreamt until that eerie prophecy snaked its way through my mind. A dark, seductive voice whispered it into my mind and suddenly, all the visions I had been having of people and places I had never seen nor met vanished in an instant. I was floating in darkness absolute. For some reason I was scared to take a step in any direction. I was rooted to the spot with complete terror. I could feel my heart pound and sweat beads pop up along my brow. I saw a fuzzy shape start to appear along the sides of my vision in this dark place. But I didn't turn my head. The fear had me pinned that badly.

When the shape had finally acquired enough of a physical presence, I saw that it was a man. He had a wider head than was normal for most people. It was framed by long, lank blond hair and a caveman-like brow that hunched over deep-set black beady eyes that assessed me and thin lips that smirked. He was taller than I was. I gave a gasp when I saw the horrible wounds that disfigured his chest and…pretty much every other part of his body as well. Caked-on blood and shredded skin hung off the man as if he had been long dead. He opened his mouth to speak.

"_This _is the scrap that the gods have chosen to save the world?"

Strange. The longer I stared at this man the longer I felt as if I should know who he was. My throat was closed tight with fear however. I couldn't speak a sound as the rotting man walked once more around me. I knew without a doubt I didn't want him to touch me. I had an even worse fear of that happening.

"Feh. She has nothing to fear. But, I'm sure she would appreciate a bit of help from her great-great-great-grandfather…" The man was reaching out a long, broken finger towards my head. Where the fear had previously rooted me to the spot, when I saw that finger moving towards me a horrendous scream ripped itself from my throat and I woke up to be covered in a layer of cold sweat. I thought my heart was going to burst from my chest.

"That was the Yuke! The one who took over River Belle Path!"

* * *

Early the next morning I got dressed in a pair of slim tan cords and a brown tank top and told my parents that I would be visiting my grandma. I saw my mom's mouth go into a slim line and my dad's brow furrow, but there weren't any severe complaints about what I'd said. So I ran back up to my room and grabbed the keys and my cell. I debated whether or not I should call my grandmother before I went over there, but hopefully she would be awake. It was early afternoon, and if my judgment of the elderly was correct, she should have been up for several hours already. So I decided against asking my parents for the number to reach my grandmother and left the house, my heart still aflutter from the scary dream I'd had about the dead king the night before.

I definitely had some questions for my grandma.

I didn't know whether or not to knock when I got to the little house on the corner of Elm and Oak where my grandma lived. I stood for a moment, shifting from one foot to the other, various questions getting tossed in my brain before the door opened and there stood Katie, her short white hair recently fluffed I could tell, from curlers. She stared at me for a moment, probably wondering why I had come back when most of the family seemingly forgot she existed.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked, keeping a firm grip on the door as if she planned on slamming it in my face.

I sighed and braced myself. "Grandma, I believe you!" I told her again.

There was that same curious expression on her face as the day before, but when no biting comment followed my statement, it vanished and she stood aside to let me in the door.

"Come. I don't like being out in public much anymore. Come, Aaliyah, and we can speak more openly inside." She told me. She turned and lead me into the little living room area where she'd had her leather couches and chairs arranged in a circular pattern around a glass table which held a single well-worn copy of her book I noticed. We sat down across from eachother in one of the chairs and she asked me what it was that I believed exactly.

I realized at that moment that I had forgotten my own copy of Echoes so I reached for my grandmother's copy in front of me. I saw her arms tense up, but not move when I held the book in my palms and skimmed the pages for the ending where the Yuke who had taken over the kingdom of River Belle Path was fighting my grandmother. I pointed to the text which described his face. It was a good description of the man who'd appeared in my dream the night before.

"I saw this man last night grandma. And I want you to know that I don't think you're an insane old woman, but an honest, courageous, and tough one who fought to save the world mentioned in this story. I want you to trust me. And I need your help." I told her.

* * *

**RAC: **Woo! I'm liking this so far. So much mystery...not xD. But yes! The Yuke king yet lives! Sort of...And I've still managed to work Katie into the story again even tho she's a senile old bat LoL. I didn't have any use for Jakob at the moment, so he's dead...Sorry bout that. But yes! The story continues!


	3. He Lives On

**Halls of my Home  
Chapter Three**

For a moment, my grandmother stared at the page I pointed to and read the description of the man whom she had fought and lost her life to. The color drained out of her when she did so and she straightened up, clasping her shaking hands in her lap.

"Aaliyah, I don't know what you're talking about." She said.

"You don't have to lie to me Grandma. I _believe _you. I _love_ your story. And last night I had this dream. This Yuke man mentioned you I believe. I think it may have been some sort of prophecy, concerning me…" I proceeded to explain the strange dream I had had to her. All the while, she seemed calm enough, so I told her as well of the visions I had had of passages contained within the book as well. Of people I had never met in my entire life. Morgan and Nich's wedding seemed to have sparked a good memory in her, for she teared up at the mention of it.

"I had never dreamt that the day would come when I would hear those words. That someone actually believed me. And that it be my own granddaughter to boot!" My grandma scoffed and laughed a bit to herself and massaged the mole on her cheek. "Your dream of the Yuke king and 'a fallen kingdom' bodes ill for the other world I believe. Time passes much faster there than here, so I guess many years have passed there and caused disarray to fall upon the people…"

"But wouldn't Geoff and Amy's children be ruling the kingdom well enough so that it would prosper?" I asked.

"That is what I would assume. But time can destroy all things, Aaliyah. I don't believe that to be the case now. You mention a new danger that stalks the land, and that worries me. If any of my friends or their kin yet lives, I would have them safe from harm. But I am of no use now. I am so old and useless!" A tinge of anger came into my grandma's voice then. She cursed her age, and for not having been able to return to the kingdom of River Belle Path.

"But the man's prophecy mentions your _granddaughter_, Grandma. What if that's _me?_ What if _I _can go back and help who remains?" I asked.

My grandma sat in contemplative silence for a while. She rubbed her mole, and then turned to me. There was a fierce glare in her eye now.

"Aaliyah, I would have no one go back there. There is much too much danger involved. You needn't risk your life. I was taken there against my will, and look at who all I made suffer. I would not risk my grandchild's life. You are the only one who believes me. I forbid you from going there!"

I was shocked. My frail grandmother now had a finger raised and pointed in my face as she proclaimed that I was forbidden from entering the world of Crystal Chronicles. But…I was _chosen! _What if I was the peoples' only hope of survival? They were _counting _on me! And besides, maybe if I was lucky, I would actually get to see the world I cherished in book form and survive.

"Grandma, please. I…I want to do this. I want to enter the world I love so much. The one you put into written word. I would give anything to see it. And to save it. I want to be your successor. Let _me _protect it!" I cried. My grandma took a step back and tears welled in her eyes.

"I wouldn't have you risk your life for such foolish reasons. There is nothing for you to gain. And nothing you need sacrifice. You don't need to go through what I did…"

I followed my grandmother as she turned and walked back the way we'd come, towards the door. I reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Grandma. I don't think there's anything you can actually do to _stop _me. I mean…that Yuke guy seemed to have a fairly good idea of who I was. He mention 'Katie's granddaughter' or something like that, so I think I'm involved, whether you would want me to be or not." I told her gently. She turned and looked up at me. And for a while, while I looked into the sad, tortured eyes of someone who was just a frail old woman, a fire engulfed my being. I had a burning desire to protect all that my grandmother had fought to defend.

"I don't want to lose you, my grandchild…" my grandma whispered. And she reached out her wrinkled hands and folded them into the loose folds of my tank. They were shaking. I could hear my grandma try and hold back the tears and short sobs that escaped her lips. I drew my grandma into a hug and held her, murmuring comforting words that I would be ok. I promised her that I would return to her, but that I was going to try my damndest to get into Crystal Chronicles despite her defiance against it.

After a moment, we pulled apart and my grandma bustled off to the bathroom in search of tissues. She laughed a little, saying that this was no way for a 'warrior' to behave in front of a child.

"Oh! Grandma, I forgot to mention something. That man mentioned something about being a great-great-great grandfather. Does that mean…" I was speaking my thoughts while leaning against the door of the bathroom while my grandmother dabbed at her eyes with tissues. When I mentioned this, she dropped the box though. And resumed her terrified shaking. She grabbed my shoulders suddenly and shook them, her voice raising a couple octaves instantly.

"Aaliyah. Tell me anything besides that. _Anything! _That that cretin should have had an opportunity to reproduce is most devastating! He _can't _have! It _can't _be true!"

"Grandma! Grandma, calm down!" I cried, trying to pry her fingers off my biceps. "He mentioned helping 'her' so I think he may have actually…"

"Oh lord have mercy on us all. This _can't _be happening. Please!"

My grandma's frenzied attack wasn't ceasing. She still had a vice-like grip on my arms and her nails were digging into my skin. She was wailing and crying nonsense as she let loose her pain and terror. For some reason, this bit of news seemed to have set her off and I was worried. Nothing was worse however, than when she suddenly collapsed and fell like a rag-doll to the floor. She didn't move.

"Grandma! _Grandma!_" I cried, alarmed even more at her sudden collapse than her panic attack a moment ago. I couldn't tell if she was breathing, but dread was pooling in my heart. I ran for the red phone that hung on the wall next to the front door knowing that picking it up and hitting 0 would connect me to the emergency clinic that would give aid to those in need of it in this community if they called from this line. I did so, and a young woman picked up on the other end.

"Hello? Mrs. Ambria?" she asked.

"Hello? My grandmother just collapsed! She had some sort of panic attack while I was visiting her. Come quick! I don't think she's breathing!" I cried, clutching the phone in one hand and glancing repeatedly at my grandma.

"Ok, miss. May I take your name?" The woman asked me.

"It's Aaliyah. I'm Katie's granddaughter. Hurry, please!" And without another word, I hung up, knowing that help would be sent soon. I ran to my grandma's side and reached for her hand, not knowing exactly what was wrong with her or if I should move her. "Grandma? Grandma, _answer me!_" I cried, jostling her hand a bit.

There was no response which only escalated my panic. I reached for a pulse at the artery in her neck and one at her wrist. What I could feel was extremely faint, but beating so fast it alarmed me even more. I assumed she had had a heart attack. I regretted telling her the news that the Yuke king may have had a child. If I had just kept my mouth shut, perhaps my grandmother would still be alive…

* * *

I went home that evening feeling like a horrible, wretched person. It had been my telling Grandma Katie about the Yuke king's child that had caused her to have a heart attack or whatever it had been. If I had only kept my mouth shut.

When I walked in the front door of my own house I admit that I kind of expected my mom to come running from her craft room that expanded the whole left side of the house, or my dad to come out of the basement where he tinkered with electronics most of the time, but everything was silent. It didn't appear that either of them cared that Grandma had been admitted to the hospital and may not live through the night. I was angry at them. For acting like such jerks to my grandmother. She had never done anything to deserve such treatment. I stormed up the stairs to my bedroom and slammed and locked the door behind me. I collapsed onto my bed and drew the blankets beneath me as my body shook with sobs.

I didn't know how my grandma would face until visiting hours tomorrow. I planned on being the very first person outside the hospital when visitors were permitted to see the sick. I only hoped that she would be well enough to _have _visitors. I swallowed another choke sob and fell asleep on my tear-stained pillows.

* * *

**RAC: **What does everyone think so far? Am I following up well enough from the last story? If you're reading Halls of my Home before Echoes of Valar you'll just get horribly confused though, so I suggest you go read that story first.


	4. Decision Made

**Halls of my Home  
Chapter 4**

_"Aaliyah, Aaliyah, can you hear me?"_

I woke to the feeling that my grandma was speaking to me. I sat up in bed quickly, imagining I would see her standing by my bedside. But there was nothing so I nestled down on my bed again and tried drifting off when the voice sounded again.

_"Aaliyah, I think I know what you can do…"_

It was as soft as a whisper-feather drawn across my thoughts. There was a slight tickling sensation as my grandmother's voice sounded in my thoughts once more. I sat up again, a bit alarmed, thinking perhaps _I _was the one who was crazy.

"Who's there?" I asked.

_"Aaliyah, it's your grandmother Katie. I'm in the hospital."_

"Yeah, I should hope so…" I muttered under my breath. "But…how are you contacting-Oh cool! You're using that chi communication thing you and Amy did when you were fighting Justine and Bertrum in the tunnels beneath Alfitaria aren't you!"

_"Aaliyah, yes I am. And it's…it's killing me…"_

My eyes bugged and I crumpled the bedding in my fists. "Grandma, if that's the case then _stop!_ Don't do this, just use a telephone like a…like a _normal _person!"

_"There isn't one near enough to me. I have to tell you this while there is yet strength in my failing body…Aaliyah, do you know how to get into Crystal Chronicles from this world?"_

"Of course I do. Through locked 666 in Paul Hadley right? Your old middle school?" I asked her.

_"That is correct. Well…I do not approve of you going there, but there is no way I can stop you. Especially in the state I'm in. But Aaliyah, I think if **you **go there, you may be able to get there…"_

"Really Grandma? You think so?" I asked, getting a bit excited at the thought of seeing the glorious lands my grandmother had traversed when she was my age.

_"It…is only possible. But you may try. Aaliyah, promise me you'll stay safe. That world is not the same as it was when I lived there I believe. And promise me you'll come back to me."_

"But Grandma…I thought you were dieing…?" I asked, feeling a bit stupid.

_"Do you **really **think I will die without first hearing the tale of one of my own coming to and from Crystal Chronicles? No. But I will be greatly weakened. Hurry Aaliyah…"_

And with that, my grandma was gone. It was the strangest sensation. Sort of like water trickling out of your ears after swimming or something. Her presence in my mind was gone. However, it still burned in my heart. I wanted nothing more than to keep my promise to her. And I was far too excited to sleep.

I jumped out of bed and tiptoed to the dresser that sat next to the door. I pulled open the middle drawer and grabbed my favorite pair of volleyball shorts. They were black, short, and tight and perfect for what I had planned. From the massive pile of clothes on my floor I snatched a black hoodie and changed out of my cords and tank top. I didn't want to get too overheated. The area where we lived always had balmy weather so it was rather warm on most nights. I picked my wallet with my cash, credit and debit cards, and driver's license from the top of the dresser and tucked it into the pouch on my hoodie.

When I was fully dressed, I opened my door a crack to see if my parents were in their room. I could see the faint flicker of pale blue light which I assumed to be the television. I checked my phone for the time: 12:34 am.

"Heh. No way they'll be awake at this time of night!" I whispered. I slipped out of my bedroom and left the door open a bit, too afraid to shut it lest the _click_ be heard by Mom or Dad. I crept down the stairs and turned down the hall that led to the kitchen. I'd be needing some supplies for sure.

I rustled through the pantry and snatched a flashlight with some spare batteries, a small plastic bag from the grocery store for carrying some things, and a little to-go bag of Cheez-Its. Hey. I get hungry!

There was a bathroom down here on the other end of the kitchen I knew, and decided to go there next. I froze every couple of steps to make sure nobody was coming downstairs, and got into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I flicked the light on and poked around in a couple of the cabinets looking for some bobby pins or a nail file or something. I just grabbed a handful of bobby pins and shut the light off again before going back into the kitchen. I peered back up the stairs when I got to the front door, and luckily there wasn't a sound. I grabbed my keys from a hook next to the front door and snuck outside.

Once in the safety of my car I opened my phone and connected to the internet. I didn't know quite where I was going so I decided to look it up before turning my car on which would inevitably wake my parents.

"Paul Hadley Middle School," I said as clearly as I could into the phone. There was a moment where it calculated the options it thought I had said where I saw a light flicker on in my parents' window upstairs. I got a bit nervous while watching shadows move behind their curtains, but my phone finally _beeped _and a list of options popped onto the screen. I scrolled through them quickly until I came to the address I knew to be familiar. Once the list of directions came onto the screen the curtains were pulled back in the upstairs window. I jumped and quickly started the car before speeding away.

I couldn't let my parents prevent me from what I thought would be the greatest part of my life of all time.

* * *

The road to the school was long and I had to hit 'cancel' on my phone to delete the messages and calls I was getting from my parents so I could keep checking my progress on my phone's GPS. I felt only the slightest bit of annoyance at their pestering, but knowing that they hadn't even cared enough to _call _Grandma Katie was enough for me to ignore them. Three and a half hours later I got to my destination. It looked exactly like my grandma had described it would look in her book. It was still dark, still had that chain-link fence that I knew had no reason to be up, and was connected to the high school next door.

I was nervous as I crept forward with the bag of goodies in my hoodie's front pouch. I had never done a B&E before and didn't know what the consequences would be if I were caught, much less since I was no longer a minor and was out of state. I didn't know what time any staff started showing up to get the school up and running either. I needed to move fast.

A wall of hedges had been grown in front of the row of windows I knew my grandmother and her best friend Amy had climbed through when they were doing just what I was doing at this same time. I could tell the school was getting on in years. Despite the nice-looking hedges, once I was carefully nestled behind one and pressed up against the brick wall and beneath my chosen window, I saw the marks of old graffiti staining the wall. It was faded almost to nothing by this point, but the wide blue marks that spread beneath my fingertips were still legible.

"Crazy bitch…" I whispered them out loud. Anger coiled in my belly at the thought of even more people defiling my grandmother with their harsh words. If only they knew! Or that their brains weren't so closed off. I looked up and down the wall and saw the marks all up and down it. I clenched my fists and reached into my pouch for the flashlight. I wrapped my hand around the light so that only a shard of light escaped and scanned the ground around me. I had realized once I was halfway here that I didn't have anything to actually pry open the window.

"_Stupid!_" I cursed myself for my stupidity. Already I was proving my grandmother's point true. That I wasn't going to be able to be of any help to the people of Crystal Chronicles since I couldn't even get into this stupid school.

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**RAC: **Woo! Way to start the late updates once more. But oh well. I toldja about them this time. Ohayocon was mad fun people! Great con, great con. Anyways. Here's the new chapter :3


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